... President Bush’s overall approval rating, according to TIME’s poll, now stands at just 36%, down from 38% in August.

Two-thirds of Americans aware of the congressional-page sex scandal believe Republican leaders tried to cover it up—and one quarter of them say the affair makes them less likely to vote for G.O.P. candidates in their districts come November. Those are among the findings of a new TIME poll conducted this week among 1,002 randomly-selected voting-age Americans.